George Osborne train dispute

The Chancellor George Osborne and an aide have been involved in a dispute with a ticket collector after sitting in a first class train carriage despite apparently travelling on a standard class ticket.

The train was travelling from Wilmslow to London and ITV Granada's correspondent Rachel Townsend was on board.

ITV News has captured a video of the Chancellor George Osborne arriving at London Euston, following a dispute over a first class upgrade.

The Treasury has told ITV News the Chancellor had a diary change and he and his aide got a different train. They say that their existing seat reservations did not apply.

The train was crowded so they decided to upgrade from standard class to first class and they always intended to pay the difference.

It says the Chancellor is not aware of any row with a ticket officer.

Bob Crow, leader of the RMT rail union, said: "This says it all about this rotten Government.

"Here we have a millionaire Chancellor who thinks he's above the normal rules and laws.

George Osborne attempting to bunk first class is this ConDem administration in a nutshell."

It follows the Chancellor George Osborne's dispute with a ticket collector after he sat in first class with a standard class ticket.

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George Osborne refused to answer questions from journalists as he arrived at Euston Station in London.

For more on this visit the ITV National news site.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said there is no special policy on upgrades for MPs or anyone else.

He said: "If you have got a standard ticket, you sit in standard class but there is the option to upgrade if you so choose.

"The strict letter of the law would be that if somebody had a ticket for standard, they should sit in standard and then ask the train manager to upgrade to first class and pay the appropriate charge.

"But it is not a big issue if someone sits in first class before they have paid for the upgrade.

"This is normally all done very amicably."

It follows the Chancellor George Osborne's dispute with a ticket collector after he sat in first class with a standard class ticket.

Click here to read more on this story.

Cheshire MP George Osborne has been arguing with ticket collectors after he refused to sit in standard class on a train to London. He had a standard class ticket but sat in first class.

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